After a quick shopping trip to the Knight's Academy, I'll work and prepare for tomorrow by staying the night for Dia and Tart to enjoy the sights.
　I'll be staying at an inn instead of Ilg's house.
　The inn we took this time is an inn I learned about when I was working at the Chamber of Commerce.
　It is said to be the best place to entertain guests from out of town, and the prices are among the best in Murteu.
　For that, the service is attentive and, above all, the food is good.
　We were excited to entertain Dia.

We finish our meal and enter our room.
　The interior is excellent, more than that, I like how well it's cleaned and the sheets are crisp.

'That rice you ate earlier was good!　I was so excited because there were so many drinks I didn't even know existed. I thought I was used to eating extravagant food, but I was excited to see so many things I'd never had before!
'Murteu is a port town. "Because Murteu is a port town, there are good food from all over the world. We don't have much in the way of Murtau cuisine, but the fact that we have food from all over the world is what makes this city so interesting.

In fact, Murteau is the only place that serves food with such a wide variety of spices and seasonings.
　These are inevitably available only in the port city.

Wow, I'm looking forward to seeing the sights tomorrow.
Have fun with it. I promise you, this city never bores its guests.

Dia and I got excited about tomorrow's sightseeing plans.
　Normally, Tart would participate in the conversation, but today he looked uncomfortable.

''........Rougu-sama, is it right that even I, a servant, was allowed to have this luxury?　And I'm a little uncomfortable. I mean, I'm always taking care of you, so I get weirdly fidgety when you take care of everything for me like this.

Now the tart is not dressed up in servant's clothes. They are the clothes I bought him before he came to this inn.
　Although Touahade's servant's clothes are cute, sometimes you want to see the Tart dressed up to the hilt, so Dia and I mended the clothes that seemed to fit.
　The fact that the beautiful girl's tart was dressed in a ladylike manner also turned off many men in the city.

''Every once in a while, Tart has to stretch her wings. If you keep doing the work of a servant every day, you'll get choked up.'
'I can't possibly be tired of looking after Master Rouges!
I'm glad to hear that, but I think the tart needs time for himself. And it's not every day you get to eat with a tart. After all, eating a meal together is more fun.
'You enjoy eating dinner with me.......I'm glad. ...........Oh, yeah, well, I'm going to take advantage of Rougu-sama's kindness today.

Tart worries about trying too hard.
　We need to force him to take a break once in a while like this.

I'm jealous when I see you two. It just feels so natural to be together.
Well, you see, Master Rogues and I have been together for a long time.

The tart is embarrassed.

As usual, she is not good at this kind of teasing.
　Perhaps that's why she's smeared her mouth with the candy she's eating between chit-chat, and she doesn't even realize it.
　What would be her reaction if I wiped her mouth here and now?
　I picked up my napkin, aware that I was getting a little mischievous.

◇

The next morning, I told them both again that we were going to be separated and left.
　On the way, they put on a disguise.
　I dye my hair black and wear glasses as Ilg Balor.

When I walked around the city after becoming an Irg, I was instantly accosted by one person after another. It's fun to talk to acquaintances, but thanks to this, we were slightly behind schedule.
　We arrive at our destination, the head office of Orna, the cosmetic brand of the Valor Trading Company.
　The main store is on the ground floor, with the warehouse and offices on the second floor.
　I enter from the back, greet the security ones and go inside.
　He walked up the stairs and knocked on the office where Maha would be.

'You can come in,'

I hear Maha's reply and then step inside.

'I'm home, Maha.'
Welcome home, Brother Ilg. I've been waiting a long time for the day you could meet your brother Irg.

Welcoming me with a smile is Maha, an orphan I once picked up and raised, a brilliant woman who runs the makeup brand, Orna, in Irg Balor's absence.
　Her tightly fitted pants look made her reasonably intelligent appeal all the more striking.
　Like Tart, she was fourteen years old, but her appearance was seamless. It's probably because she's had a real battle as a merchant.

''As usual, Maha is beautiful.

Tarts are pretty, Maha is beautiful. I've always thought that, but lately it's becoming more so.

'I'm glad you called me beautiful. Brother Ilg, don't you want to have that beautiful woman for yourself?　I'm open to having my hands on you at any time.
I'll think about it.

With a wry smile, I sit on the couch in the center of the room. Unlike Tart, Maha always says these things to me straight away.
　Maha makes a cup of tea and then comes over next to me.
　It's a smell I've never smelled before. I follow my curiosity and put it in my mouth.

"Interesting tea leaves.
I get it from the south, from the newly opened up seaways. It has a nice balance of sweetness and astringency, and it's very relaxing to drink. If you like it, I'll send it to Touahadé.
That's a good idea. That's good. We've been on a lot of anxious business at Tauaharde lately. I'd appreciate this tea.

Exotic tea leaves are a precious commodity. You can enjoy it by yourself, but you can also use it to entertain guests.
　We had a chat with Maha about the recent situation and enjoyed the tea.

I heard that you got that thing.
You're impatient. I was hoping to enjoy our conversation a bit more. I'll see you in a minute.

Maha went to the vault and pulled it out from inside.
　It was wrapped in an old cloth, and he could feel the magic as if it was special.
　When Maha unwrapped it, she found a leather bag dyed in red and blue. In terms of size, it's just enough to hang around my waist.

''So this is a divine weapon?''
''Yes, it's called the [Crane Leather Bag]. They say it's a sacred artifact, but they didn't have much use for it, so I just had to load up on money to get it.

This does not look like a weapon by any means.
　In addition to weapons, there are various tools in the Divine Weapons, and this is one of them.

''No use?　From what I've heard beforehand, it sounds like it couldn't have been more wonderful?
Yeah, it's a great feature to see.

As he said this, Maha put away all the tea utensils in that bag.
　Tea pots, tubes of tea leaves, cups, baskets of sweets, sugar pots and milk pitchers.
　That wasn't enough, he also put away a thick stack of documents and, to top it all off, a chair.

It's a magic bag that you can increase the capacity of and store as much as you want by pouring your magic power into it. And even if you put all these things in it, the weight doesn't change. It's a foul play from a distribution standpoint.
'Yes. It's an item that merchants all over the world would be willing to pay any price to have.
...it's functional. But it has a fatal flaw. Brother Ilg, think about it calmly. Do you think I can buy that much for an amount that won't affect Orna's business?

He shakes his head.
　The title of Orna's deputy representative is huge, and the amount of money Maha can manage is huge.
　But it's still not enough.

I don't think so. For example, if Balor pays three times our budget limit, we think we can make ends meet in two years. If we get into a battle with a Balor-class chamber of commerce, we won't stand a chance.
That's right. The fatal flaw of this thing is that it doesn't have much capacity unless you keep pouring quite a bit of magic power into it. If you don't keep pouring in a lot of magic power, it won't hold much capacity, and the moment you stop supplying magic power, this is what happens.

In an instant, the entire contents of the bag are blown up.

''........I see, so this is useless. You must have magic power to use it, and it's hard to keep pouring magic power into it constantly. Can I borrow it?
Yeah, go ahead.

I put some magic power into the crane leather bag.
　Somehow, you can see how much the bag's capacity is increased by putting magic power into it.
　The amount of all-out magic power that an average magician can release is finally enough for a carriage.

If I release my magic power at full strength, I won't be able to last thirty minutes. Rather than running out of magic power, they couldn't bear the feeling of fatigue.

If the average magician tried to use this properly, it's at most one backpack's worth of magic power.
　Then it's better to carry a normal backpack.

''I understand. It's not impossible to find a use for it, but it's not very convenient.
Yeah. As an assassin, you can bring in a weapon without being bulky, and I think it could be useful for thieves and such.
But I can handle this. I'm grateful for the opportunity to use it.

As I have a magic power capacity that is more than a thousand times that of an ordinary person, this level of burden is not a problem at all.
　However, the amount of magic power released is still only about eight times that of an ordinary person, so it's tough to keep pouring in enough magic power for one person.
　To begin with, it's terribly scary to know that if the magic power is interrupted even for a moment, the contents will be blown away. Although I've been trained to release magic power even when I'm asleep, even so, a momentary interruption can happen.
　No, wait.
　This magic bag, whoever's magic power is, can use it.
　Then that one could be used.

I take out a foul stone from inside the pouch.
　It's a gem containing the magical power of three hundred people, which I carry around with me at all times as a weapon.
　On the battlefield, you can use it to unleash a bomb, but you can also use it to gently release the magic power you've hoarded.
　I poured magic power into the foul stone in my hand and put it into the crane leather bag so that it would continue to release magic power.

''I knew it. With this, it won't overwhelm my magic power release.''

As I read, the crane leather bag was gently absorbing the magic power released from the foul stone to increase its capacity.

''I wonder how much capacity this will hold?''
'From a quick glance, that's about half of a carriage. This is the output that will make the foul stones last the longest. One foul stone can last for two or three weeks.

........I was constantly releasing magic power in order to increase my magic capacity and instantaneous magic power release.
　I don't want to waste that magic, so I create foul stones and keep filling them with more magic.

Thanks to this, there are bags filled with foul stones lying around in the warehouse.
　Of course, all of them are filled to the maximum with magic power.

It's amazing. I wonder if he's willing to leave it with Orna for a set of foul stones?
'That would make more money, but I reject it. I'd like to thoroughly investigate the Divine Weapons. If we find something common to the divine artifacts, it might lead to countermeasures against other divine artifacts or even generate divine artifacts... and that's purely because this guy is useful. I'll put it to good use.

It carries about half the load of a carriage and does not feel the weight of what it contains.
　It's not just a useful tool, but it can also be used as a weapon.
　If you use it in a slightly perverse way, it could even be counted as one of the trump cards for brave men.

Thank you. Maha, you got a really good one for me.
Is it just a thank you?
Is there anything you can do to help?
'Well, I'd love for you to kiss me.

He smiles and looks into my face.
　Maha is probably teasing me, as she always does.

'Hmph, if not, well...'
Yeah, okay.
'What? Yeah, yeah!

Maha, who was expecting to be rejected, was dismayed.
　I took Maha in my arms I kissed her on the cheek.
　Maha turned bright red and stiffened.
　Her usual cool figure wasn't there.

'There you go.'

He doesn't quite respond to my questions.

'....I don't know what to do.

Maha looks at her hand and finally twists the words out of her mouth.

''Oh my God, I'm too happy, too embarrassed to get any work done for the rest of the day.

She was so cute like that.
　I couldn't help but kiss her again on the cheek.

'Huh.'

Maha makes a weird squeal and then completely freezes up.
　It's funny, so we'll just watch him until he comes to his senses.
　He's always teasing me. It's not a bad idea to make a move on us once in a while.